Flexible gun mount control



' Nov. 22, 193 8.

c. G. TRIMBACH ET Al. 37,640

FLEXIBLE GUN MOUNT CONTROL Filed April 14, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTORQ. CLEM GTRIMBACH BY CAME-LE ILLEMONIBR.

" ATTORN 1938- c. G. TRIMBACH Er AL 2,137,640

FLEXIBLE GUN MOUNT CONTROL Filed April-l4, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTORS. CLEM G. 'mImBAcH w, CAMILLE HLEMQNXBR.

A TTORN FLEXIBLE GUN MOUNT CONTROL Filed A ril 14, 1936 s Sheets-Sheet 3IN VEN TORS CLEMGII'RIMBACH m CAMJLLE D .LEMONIEIL- Patented Nov. 22,1938 FLEXIBLE GUN MOUNT CONTROL Application April 14, 1936, Serial No.74,278

6 Claims.

This invention relates to gun mounts, and particularly comprisesimprovements in flexible machine gun mounts for aircraft of the typedisclosed in Trimbach Patent No. 1,968,182, and Trimbach applicationSerial No. 7,478, filed February 21, 1935.

The invention contemplates improvements in the means by which a guncarriage, rollable along a track, may be readily locked to the track, insubstantially any position thereon, and also contemplates means by whichthe carriage may be unlocked from, and moved along the track by a singlemotion on the part of the gunner. Particularly gun carriages of theprior art have necessitated manual operation of the carriage wherein ahandle is provided which is movable in one sense to unlock the carriageand movable in another sense to move the carriage on the track. In thisinvention, we provide a member which may be acted upon in eitherdirection by the knee of the gunner, initial motion of the memberserving to unlock the carriage from the track, and

subsequent motion in the direction in which it is desired to move thecarriage, efiecting such movement of the carriage.

An object of the invention is to provide kneeoperated means by which agun carriage may be locked to or unlocked from, or moved along, a track.

A further object is to provide a corrugated element on the track adaptedto be engaged by a locking element on the carriage, the conformation ofthe corrugated member being such that,

regardless of the position at which the carriage may stop on the track,the carriage locking member will engage upon one of the corrugations andmove the carriage to such a position that the locking member will firmlylock the carriage to the track.

Further objects will be apparent from a reading of the subjoinedspecification and claims, and from a consideration of the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of a track and a gun carriageincorporating the provisions of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of part of a gun track and a carriagemounted thereon;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the gun carriage and the track in section;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are sections, respectively, on the lines 5-5, 6-6 andof Fig. 3;

Figs. 8 and 9am sections, respectively, on the lines 8-8 and 99 of Fig.2; and

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of one of the carriage elements.

As a basic organization with which this invention is adapted to be used,we show a track I I having grooves l2 formed on the upper, lower andinner faces thereof. A carriage i3 comprises a channel member embracingthe upper, lower and inner faces of the track and carrying rollers I4engaging the respective track grooves. At the upper part of the carriageI3 is mounted a gun adapter socket l5 releasably mounted in a yoke i6 bymeans of spring-pressed releasable bolts I1 and I8. The lower end of theyoke I6 is pivoted to the carriage 13 at l9, whereby, upon release ofthe bolts iii, the yoke may be swung inwardly and downwardly about thepivots I9. By appropriate manipulation of the bolts H or 18, the socket15 may be removed from the gun carriage, or may be swung inwardly oroutwardly with respect thereto, to provide for stowing of a mountedmachine gun within the aircraft.

Upon the lower inner face of the track II, a strip is attached as byscrews 21, the exposed face of this strip comprising a series ofcorrugations or undulations 22. Mounted upon the lower part of thecarriage l3, on substantially horizontal pivots 23, are coaxial spacedlevers 24, the upper portion of each lever 24 being formed at 25 forengagement with one of the corrugations 22. The lower portion of eachlever 24 is provided with an adjustable ball contact element 26 adaptedfor engagement by a rocker 21 pivoted for swinging on a bolt 28 fixedcentrally of the carriage [3. Each end of the rocker 21 is provided witha roller 29 for anti-friction engagement with the respective leverelement 2B, and each end of the rocker is also provided with a roller 30which is adapted to bear against a suitably formed fiat face on theinside of the carriage l3. Thus far, it will be apparent that when therocker 21 is in a substantially horizontal position, the rollers 29 willbear against the elements 26 to cause the levers 24, to engage thecorrugated strip 20, thereby positively locking the carriage frommovement along the track. If the rocker 21 is tilted either clockwise orcounter-clockwise, the levers 24 may swing outwardly from engagementwith the strip 20 to permit the carriage to move along the track.

The rocker 21 is provided with an upward extension 3l. A cross bolt 32extends across the front of the carriage l3, this bolt having arectangular central portion 33 lying just in front of the extension 3|,the ends thereof providing stops for bushings 34 and 35 slidable alongthe end portions of the bolt. These bushings are continually pressedtoward a central position by means of compression springs 36 and 31acting respectively between the ends of the carriage l3 and the faces ofthe bushings 34 and 35. These springs, acting through the bushings,serve at all times to urge the extension 3|, and hence the rocker 23',toward a central position wherein the carriage is locked to the track.The springs 36 and 31 operate independently, the former being compressedwhen the carriage is unlocked and moved to the right, and the latterbeing compressed when the carriage is moved tothe left. The uncompressedspring presses its bushing against the stop 33, by which it does not acton the extension 3|. Thus, a center position is established for theextension, being urged thereto by the springs, but each spring,becauseof the stop 33, does not act beyond the center.

The rocker 21 is provided with a pivot 38, upon which is suspended anoperating lever 39 which may freely move in a plane substantially normalto the gun track. However, when the operating lever 39 is moved in theplane of the gun track, this motion is first effective in rocking therocker 2! about its pivot 28 to unlock the carriage from the track.After the initial unlockinghas been effected, continued movement of theoperating lever 39 in the plane of the track will cause translation ofthe carriage along the track.

It is to be noted that the motion of the operating lever 39 may beinitiated either to the right or left, as shown in Fig. 2, so that anoperator, when he desires to move the carriage to the left, simplypushes the operating lever to the left. Conversely, whenhe wishes tomove the carriage to the right, he pushes the operating lever to theright. When such pushing is stopped, the lever, by virtue of the actionof the springs 36 and 31, will be moved to a central position to againlock the carriage to the track. Should the carriage stop at such a pointon the track that the locking elements 25 are not opposite depressionsin the corrugations of the strip 20, the conformation of saidcorrugations will cause the carriage to translate a slight amount untilsaid elements engage the depressions of the corrugations whereby therocker 21 will assume a horizontal position and the carriage will beirreversibly locked, until the lever 39 is again moved in the plane ofthe track.

In Fig. 2 is shown a spring 40 around part of the pivot 38, serving tourge the operating lever 39 to an operating position such as is shown inFigs. 1, 3 and 4. If the spring only were depended upon to hold thelever in position, it would be subject to oscillation since no positiveoperative position is provided by the spring. To prevent suchoscillation, a latch mechanism, detailed in Fig. 9, is arranged, thiscomprising a latch M pivoted to the carriage l3 and pressed by a spring42 to engage a dog 43 screwed to the lever 39. The latch 4|, thoughurged into engagement with the dog 43, is not a positive lock, due tothe placement of the dog 43 below the pivot of the latch 4|. Thus, whenthe gun is stowed, or the adapter socket l5 released from the carriageand dropped down, a dog on the socket l5 strikes the lever 39, movingthe latter inwardly under the carriage track. II to an out tail in itspresent preferred embodiment, it will be obvious to those skilled in theart, after understanding our invention, that various changes andmodifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit orscope thereof. We aim in the appended claims to cover all suchmodifications and changes.

What is claimed is:

1. In a gun carriage movable along a track,

a pair of spaced levers pivoted intermediate their ends to'the carriage,one end of each lever being arranged for movement into contact with thetrack, a rock arm pivoted to said carriage between said lever pivots,the rock arm ends being arranged for engagement with the other ends ofrespective levers, said rock arm when in substantially horizontalposition, engaging both 1ever ends for holding both levers positively intrack engagement, an operating member for rocking said rock arm, andresilient means acting directly upon said operating member for holdingsaid rock arm in position for lever-end engagement.

' 2. In a lock for a gun carriage movable along a track, a member on thetrack comprising a plurality of raised and depressed portions blendinginto one another to provide a plurality of undulations, an elementmovable with and with respect to the carriage, engageable with saidundulations, and releasable positive means for holding said elementwithin one of the depressed portions of said member, said element, uponrelease of said positive means, being disengaged from said member uponcarriage movement along the track by virtue of the slope of saidundulations.

3. In a gun mount, a track having a locking surface thereon, a carriageslidable along said track, a locking surface engager pivoted to thecarriage, and operating means pivoted on said carriage and swingableabout its pivot to contact said engager and to enforce contact of theengager with said locking surface, said operating means being movableout of contact with said engager to allow of engager release andcarriage movement along the track.

4. In a gun carriage movable along a track, a lever pivoted to thecarriage having a portion movable into locking engagement with thetrack, a rock arm pivoted to the carriage on an axis substantiallynormal to the lever axis having a portion engageable with said lever, inone position of the rock arm, for positively holding the lever in trackengagement, said rock arm, when swung to either side of said oneposition, freeing the lever from track locking engagement.

5. In a gun carriage movable along a track, a lever pivoted to thecarriage having a portion movable into locking engagement with thetrack, a rock arm pivoted to the carriage on an axis substantiallynormal to the lever axis having a portion engageable with said lever, inone position of the rock arm, for positively holding the lever in trackengagement, said rock arm, when swung to either side of said oneposition freeing the lever from track locking engagement, and resilientmeans normally urging said rock arm toward said one position.

6. In a gun carriage movable along a track,-

substantially normal to the lever axis having a portion engageable withsaid lever, in one position of the rock arm, for positively holding thelever in track engagement, said rock arm, when swung to either side ofsaid one position, freeing the lever from track locking engagement, saidtrack including an undulating series of raised and depressed portionswith which said lever portion is adapted to engage, and said rock arm

